Karnataka is currently embroiled in a PPP action, the acronym standing for today’s column, its expanded form appearing at the top of the script. A report appearing in a popular daily a few days ago said that PPPs had not fared well both in the State and elsewhere in the country, meaning Public-Private-Partnerships launched with fanfare at the time of laying their foundation stones, most, if not all of which may have the same fate as edicts to last for posterity. The VIPs, everyone knows who, are known to have carved a good part of the budget approved, for each PPP and also sanctioned, whether or not the construction saw light of the day. In case anybody doubts the veracity of this point which even school-bound boys are aware of, the just published details of the assets commanded by the vote-seekers as revealed by themselves to the Election Commission through affidavits.

The system of people casting their votes as a right to elect their representatives to the various law-making bodies in the country for governing the land and its people has a short history of nearly 70 years, prompting the view that the democratic nation is quite young on time scale in the circle of chroniclers. But, if one looks at the track record of the young nation, one cannot but wish that the nation was anything other than democratic.

Going by the popular definition of democracy portrayed by the expression by the people, of the people, for the people, the noun people seems to get a low premium of attention because of the force of the operative terms by, of, for. A wit has meaningfully changed the aforementioned definition to the expression by some people, of some people, for some people. Applying one’s mind to this modified definition, one cannot be faulted to identify the sets of some people as a) The vote-seekers who manage to take their perch on the victory stand, b) The voters who fall for cash, sarees, cookers, alcohol, sumptuous food and so on thrust into their laps and c) Those who either keep away from the polling booths or at best press the NOTA button on the EVM and feel gratified.

Having taken note of the people with voting rights but exercising their right without a care, barring a minor fraction of the electorate, the PPP in the world’s largest democracy is a total success unlike the other usual PPP that we are told about, thanks mainly to the land’s people who have to grin and bear it for their mindless inputs into the national project.